Doesn't anybody get it right the first time?

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It’s the human element that messes things up. It’s the guy who takes shortcuts, or the woman who ignores a customer, or an assembly line worker who passes along a mistake, or a CEO who sucks the profits out of a company at the expense of the consumer, who affects the quality of work in America.

We seem to have an increasing tolerance for second-rate effort and products. When I go to a department store these days, I expect to be pretty much ignored. When someone is helpful or tries to solve a problem, it stands out. When I get a knowledgeable person on a telephone hotline, I feel really grateful — and surprised.

We need a Kennedy-like rising tide to raise us above the political fighting that is crippling our government. Health care can work like Amazon. Our infrastructure can look like something built by Apple.

We must elect people who vow to work together. We must tell our children what our grandparents told us: that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well.

Sid Tanenbaum, who lived in Woodmere and owned a metal-stamping shop in Far Rockaway, where he was known more for his charitable ways than his two-handed set shot, has been honored for the past 30 years with a basketball tournament that raises scholarship money for students in the Five Towns.